A slew of websites are blacking out their sites today (January 18) to protest the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and its sister bill the Protect IP Act (PIPA). One game studio has decided to take its protest of these bills one step further by not only blacking out a demo for their game but also pulling out of one of the largest and arguably most important events for the gaming industry.
Developer Red 5 Studios has decided to show their protest of SOPA/PIPA in two ways. First, the company is blocking access to the beta of their free-to-play shooter, Firefall for the entire day on January 18. The PC developer has now decided to take things one step further and pull out of the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3). E3 is run by the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) which has been vocal about supporting SOPA.
Many other game companies that are associated with the ESA are speaking out against SOPA and encouraging the ESA to drop their support of the bill, but none have made such a bold gesture as to pull out of the ESA’s largest event of the year.
What’s more interesting, the company is taking the $50,000 that would have been spent on their E3 promotional booth and is using that money to start The League for Gamers. The group calls itself “ a gathering place for gamers, developers and industry supporters who want to stand against legislation that's detrimental to the games industry."
In an interview with Ars Technica Red 5 CEO Mark Kern talks about The League for Gamers and his goals with the group. Ars asked Kern if he planned to reach out to other developers to get them involved in the group or make donations towards the cause. Kern replied,
“I think it's early to tell. I really want this to come from gamers. I really want gamers to Like the organization on Facebook, leave a comment on the wall, and what we're going to do first is petition the ESA. We're going to organize a petition to send a strong message to the ESA that the ESA does not represent gamers, and I will reach out to other game developers as well to get them to sign on board. I'll try to get them to sign on board to send that message as developers, to the ESA.”
It’s nice to see a studio being so aggressive in their reaction to SOPA. The question is will Red 5 Studios pull out of the ESA altogether if they refuse to change their stance on this legislation? While refusing to support the ESA’s largest event is a powerful message to send, still being a member of the organization sends a bit of a mixed message.
